Space Exploration Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:SPCX, the rocket, satellite communications, and artificial intelligence company known as SpaceX, saw its shares fall sharply on Friday, putting the stock on course to erase more than $1 trillion in market value from its record high. The shares dropped as much as 6.9% to $122.12 before recovering part of the decline, leaving SpaceX valued at approximately $1.61 trillion, compared with $2.64 trillion at the close on June 16, its third day of trading. After initially surging following the largest initial public offering in history, Elon Musk's company has moved below its $135 IPO price as investors reassess its valuation and near-term execution risks.
The latest pressure followed SpaceX's decision to cancel Thursday's Starship launch after some of the rocket's engines failed to start. Musk said the company planned to replace two Raptor engines, which could delay its next launch attempt until early next week. Raymond James, a financial-services firm, analyst Brian Gesuale noted that development problems may remain part of Starship's aggressive testing program, while adding that a launch next week would still reduce the interval between Starship flights to less than 60 days from the previous 221-day gap. SpaceX has invested more than $15 billion in Starship, which supports its plans to expand the Starlink satellite network, place data centers in orbit, and eventually assist NASA Artemis missions and human travel to the moon and Mars.
Royal Bank of Canada, a Canadian financial-services company, analysts Ken Herbert and Jonathan Atkin suggested that Starship's potential cost savings could help unlock SpaceX's orbital-computing ambitions, although they cautioned that achieving a reusable launch cadence remains essential. Investors are also weighing future insider lock-up expirations, which will release additional shares into the market over the coming months, even as SpaceX carries an average 12-month analyst price target of $235.34 and recently joined the Nasdaq 100 Index. The decline may also matter beyond SpaceX because artificial intelligence played a central role in the company's IPO pitch, and continued weakness could weigh on enthusiasm for other AI-linked offerings after the record deal helped Wall Street's largest investment banks generate their strongest second-quarter equity-advisory revenue since 2021.